Good morning. With some one-hour appointments now costing $1,000, today we\u2019re taking a deep look at why out-of-pocket fees for specialist doctors are skyrocketing across Australia \u2013 and what you can do about it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, consumer advocates argue that the Australian Taxation Office\u2019s contracts with private call centre operators, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, are leaving vulnerable taxpayers exposed.<\/p>\n
Plus: talkback radio veteran John Laws has died and a native title claim is being lodged over Melbourne by the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people. Meanwhile in the UK, senior BBC bosses have resigned amid claims of bias in its news coverage of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
AustraliaAn analysis of police data found Aboriginal children on bail were subject to home visits more often than non-Aboriginal children, the Justice and Equity Centre says. Composite: Victoria Hart\/Guardian Design\/Getty ImagesWorldFung-Wong is the 21st tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, surpassing the country\u2019s annual average of 20 storms. Photograph: Xinhua\/ShutterstockFull Story Composite: Guardian Design\/Guardian Australia<\/p>\n
The ban on puberty blockers risking harm to Queensland children<\/p>\n
Queensland is now the only state to have banned gender-affirming care for transgender children after the Queensland health minister issued a new order banning the prescription of puberty blockers for transgender patients. Reged Ahmad speaks with Ben Smee and Andrew Messenger about whether Queensland\u2019s ban on puberty blockers is ideologically driven<\/a>.<\/p>\n Full StoryThe ban on puberty blockers risking harm to Queensland children<\/p>\n Sorry your browser does not support audio – but you can download here and listen $https:\/\/audio.guim.co.uk\/2025\/11\/07-19894-fs_pubertyblockers_20251107_ds_1600.mp3<\/p>\n In-depthConsumer advocates have raised significant concerns over how the ATO\u2019s outsourced call centre model is affecting vulnerable taxpayers. Photograph: Reza Estakhrian\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The Australian Taxation Office has outsourced thousands of call centre roles to private operators that pay workers significantly less than public servants and use call targets that can leave vulnerable taxpayers exposed. Jonathan Barrett explains why some consumer advocates are now sounding the alarm<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not the news\u2018It was a total sliding doors moment,\u2019 \u2026 Jane Theau\u2019s life-changing job came about from a chance meeting in New York City. Illustration: Guardian Design<\/p>\n In the latest of our Kindness of strangers<\/a> series, a reader shares her tale of how a chance meeting with a man while on a short trip to New York City helped her land the job that changed her life<\/a>. It was a \u201csliding doors moment\u201d in a city where anything feels possible, she says.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n SportMcLaren\u2019s Oscar Piastri makes a pit stop during the S\u00e3o Paulo Grand Prix race. Photograph: Jean Carniel\/Reuters<\/p>\n Australia has more renewable energy than ever before, but more storage is needed to properly harness that power<\/a>, ABC News reports. The Marylebone Cricket Club is reconsidering the life ban<\/a> handed down to one of its members for abusing Australian cricketers at Lords, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. South Australia\u2019s farmers are under pressure amid suburban complaints about their legal farming activities<\/a>, the Advertiser reports.<\/p>\n What\u2019s happening today<\/p>\n RBA | Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Andrew House is due to deliver a speech today in Sydney.<\/p>\n Federal court | A three-day hearing is scheduled to begin as Pauline Hanson appeals a racial vilification ruling.<\/p>\n NSW | Closing submissions are expected at the supreme court in a class action over alleged water mismanagement of the Murray Darling.<\/p>\n Sign up<\/p>\n If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here<\/a>, or finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletter<\/a>. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brain teaser<\/p>\n And finally, here are the Guardian\u2019s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning. With some one-hour appointments now costing $1,000, today we\u2019re taking a deep look at why out-of-pocket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-274134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}